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This Discussion?"

Q: I have started to do yoni mudra kumbhaka and dynamic jalandhara along
with spinal breathing and meditation. During meditation I find sudden jerks
in some parts of my body like my hand moves involuntarily and most times
upper part of my body moves towards the ground. These movements are
sometimes distracting. Just want to know if this is normal or am I doing
anything wrong.

A: Yes, the jerks are normal. It is energy opening inner pathways. The
movements will reduce as the pathways open and offer less resistance.

Sometimes movements point to "automatic yoga" positions. For example, if you
feel compelled to go down to the mat with your head and torso while sitting,
this is the sushumna (spinal nerve) wanting to stretch itself for more
purification. If you do some maha mudra as part of your asanas before
pranayama and meditation it can help pre-empt the tendency during sitting
practices. The basic version of this is a sitting toe grab with legs out
straight and head toward knees with chin toward chest. Or, if your head and
torso irresistibly want to go down during sitting practices, then let them
for a few minutes. Or you can let yourself go into it for as long as
necessary at the end of your sitting practices. It is a natural expression
of the connectedness of yoga through your nervous system.

Obviously, we don't want to interrupt our sitting practices too much with
spontaneous yoga positions, but sometimes these things happen, so we let
them if the urge gets to be strong enough. The best way to minimize
movements in pranayama and meditation is with a good set of asanas before we
start. And, if the movements become too much, we do as we always do when
symptoms of purification become excessive. We use self-pacing in our
practices and back off for a while until we find stability in our routine,
and continue from there. When we hit a few pot-holes in the road, we slow
down until the road smoothes out again.

The occasional jerks are common at certain stages of development, and a sign
of purification going on. Milestones on the road to enlightenment!